Tigers place second in Districts

Thursday

May 10, 2018 at 6:46 PM

The Waynesville Tigers tennis team went into Districts seeded number two as a team this week. The Tigers began with a match over Rolla in the semifinal round. They picked up a 5-2 win over the Bulldogs. The Tigers then faced the Springfield Central Bulldogs in the District Championship and lost 0-8 in the match.

Allen HilliardSpecial to Daily Guide

Rolla Bulldogs - Semi Final

This is the fourth year in a row that the Tigers had a chance to compete for a District title. Waynesville went into the match with a 12-8 record on the season. Waynesville improved over the season and rebounded from several tough losses including two from District rival Lebanon.

Head Waynesville tennis Coach Kayla Wilson said this after the match, “At the beginning of each season, we set team goals. We have goals that revolved around character, some teamwork and some grades. But also thrown into the mix, we set our sights on another District trophy. That would mean a 3rd place seed at Districts, was just not good enough. The boys realized they were going to have to step up and really worked hard going into our Conference tournament.”

The Tigers picked up a win in the in the number three doubles and then fell at the number two match. Waynesville was tied 1-1 to begin the team scoring.

The number one doubles match consisted of Tyler Gayman and Cameron Martell who won 8-6. Waynesville led 2-1 after doubles play.

Coach Wilson said this, “We really struggled to win the majority of our doubles matches at the start of the season, and it’s very hard to bounce back from a bad round of doubles. We’ve worked really hard to improve doubles play this year.”

The Tigers lost the next singles match to once again split the score at 2-2. Both Aaron Emperato and Tyler Gayman picked up two wins for Waynesville to give the Tigers a 4-2 advantage. Waynesville need just one more win for the team victory. Sneed stepped up an picked up the win in their fifth and final match.

The Tigers advanced to face the Springfield Central Bulldogs in the team championship.

Springfield Central Bulldogs - District Championship

Waynesville faced a very tough Springfield Central Team in the Championship matchup. They fell 0-8 against the very strong Bulldogs group.

Coach Wilson said this, “They are a solid team. This is our fourth year in a row meeting them in the championship. We knew who we were up against walking into this match. But we also knew the pressure was not on us. We walked on court determined to do our best and put up our best fight, and that’s exactly what we did. Despite what the score may reflect, Central did not get an easy win tonight. We held them close, playing deuce with our opponent many times throughout the night. We scored at least one game in every match, which hasn’t always been the case in the past, and ended with a few close individual scores.”

Cameron Martell went three sets in his match but could not overcome the Bulldogs Sage Riddle.

Coach Wilson said this, “Tonight was the best I’ve seen my boys play, they walked away with a proud coach.”

Waynesville will compete in individual District competition on Friday in Camdenton.

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